Demon Princes of Titan
The Demon Princes are the seven most powerful demons of the Fighting Fantasy universe, who rule over the entire Demonic Planes and subsequently everything evil that plagues the world of Titan. There is the three superior Snake Demons: Sith, Myurr and Ishtra, and the four Night Demons: Relem, Vradna, Kalin and Shakor who serve as their generals. While they directly appear in very few gamebooks, their influenced the actions of many of the serie's villains. Background Creation of the universe Arn, the first created and father of all things of the Fighting Fantasy universe, gave birth to the three Primal Deities, Ashra, Vuh and Elim, tasking them to shape the universe. Vuh created the Earthly Planes, Ashra the Astral Planes and Elim the Magical Planes. Yet, Elim deemed the result to be flawed and wanted to erase it to start it anew, while Ashra was enthusiastic to push creation further and Vuh felt that things could not be judged until Life was put into motion. Ashra and Vuh gave birth to the Gods of Titan and Elim to the High Lords of Evil and Chaos, the Demon Gods Death, Disease and Decay from the very flaws he wanted to highlight, named after what the mortal races would come to regard as the worst scourges in existence after Time was be brought on the world. Then the world of Titan came into existence. While the Gods created the different living races, the Demon Gods stole some races from their creators, Orc, Trolls, Goblins and Lizard-Men, among others, and created the demon kind in "a cruel mockery of the creation of the lawful gods." The First Battle As creation flourished and prospered, the Demon Gods were waiting for the moment they could claim the world for themselves. Something they finally did after the God of Neutrality Loogan discovered Time. The major Demon God Death captured Time and threatened to release its ageing power, should the Gods not relinquish the world of Titan to the forces of Evil. The Gods refused, leading to the cataclysmic First Battle. In spite of its name, the First Battle was an all-out war opposing the higher gods of the Celestial Court, their allies of the Animal Court, the Demi Gods, the Dragon kind and all the lawful mortal races; against the Demon Gods, the lesser Evil Gods, many frightful Dark Beings, (such as the Night Dragon, Voivod the Waster, the Black Gargoyle, the Primal Basilisk and the corrupt Spider God Arhallogen) the Demon Kind and the evil mortal races. The forces of Evil tricked several neutral gods (such as the Wolf God Almor and the Goblin God Hashak) to fight by their side, corrupted some warriors of Good and created Undeath and Lycanthropy, but the forces of Good held their own and birth to powerful champions. The war ended when Death targetted Titan, God King and namesake of the world, with a dark bolt made from hatred and fear. The Earth Goddess Throff took the hit, causing considerable anger among the forces of good which laid waste in the demonic armies. In retaliation, the Fertility Goddess Galana and the Sun Goddess Glantanka combined their powers to hurl a spear of divine energy towards Time, which was held captive by the mightiest demons. Time disintegrated, scattering its essence all over the Earthly Planes and giving birth to the Time God Chronada. Soon after, the remaing forces of Evil were forced to surrender. Fearing the unspeakable evil that would spread if the Demon Gods were executed, they and most of their followers were banished forever into the Void. However, the Demon Princes and many others escaped banishment. Most of them, like the Night Dragon and Voivod, were defeated and sealed somewhere else, leaving the current Demon Princes the highest evil authority. The Old Time The Golden Age ended with the war. The Gods had to withdraw from Titan, the living creatures were now mortals and the previous prosperity of the four major races of Titan was lost forever. The Elves retreated to the forests, the Dwarves retreated into the underground caves, the Giants were nearly wiped out and the great cities of Men were reduced to dust. The last two races' civilizations regressed heavily, most of the giant tribes being stuck into a nearly prehistoric lifestyle. Feeling betrayed by his brothers after the banishment of his kin, Elim sought to expand his cult worldwide and entered a conflict with Ashra and Vuh which caused even more war and chaos, until the Younger Gods were forced to remove the Primal Deities from the memory of livings. Then came the Time of Heroes, during which the mortal races learnt to adapt to the hostile, God-deprived world of Titan. But the Demon Princes sought to gain dominion over it, leading to the sinking of Atlantis, the only nation which retained its Golden Age glory. When King Faramos XII, Atlantis' greatest monarch, died without known heir the empire suffered great troubles until a 16-year-old distant relative was finally discovered and crowned under the name Faramos XIII. However, this providential heir was in fact the Snake Demon Myurr, who assumed a human form after fabricating evidences of a royal descent. Myurr had the once peaceful empire invade every neighbouring kingdoms, spreading destruction and disarray all over. By the time the Gods realised the king's true identity, they had no other choice than to sink the entire empire under the sea, splitting the original continent of Irritaria into what became the Old World, Allansia and Khul. Unfortunately not before Myurr could retreat to the Demonic Planes. After a long period of huge seismic and volcanic activities, the mortal races were once again left to cope with the new settings of the world to rebuild their civilizations for the third and last time. As the centuries passed, the mortal races learnt to master Magic, leading to the rise in power of wizards, and subsequently the threat posed by Dark Wizards. The Chaos Wars The last great catastrophe to befall on Titan was the discovery of the Dead City, a lost city from long before the splitting in which a great evil had been sealed. This evil force spread all over Titan, culminating into the Chaos Wars that laid waste on all three continents. In Khul where the Dead City was located, it resulted in the Great War against Evil, in which every evil race lauched full-scale attacks. In Allansia, it resulted in the devastating War of the Wizards. In the Old World it shaped an entire land into a lawless, unexplored territory where Chaos rules supreme, separated from civilization by the Great Wall of Analand, known as the Khakabad. No civilization was destroyed this time, but the conflicts were catastrophic enough to led to the New Age, referred to as After Chaos in the Titan timeline. Every gamebook and story set on Titan taking place during the New Age. The Demonic Planes Also known as the Pit '''or '''the Abyss, the Demonic Planes refers to the Magical Planes where the demon kind comes from. It is reminiscent of the Seven Circles of Hell: Primus for the Demon Princes, Secundus for the greater demons, Tertius for the "classical" demons, Quartus for the greater sentient undeads, (vampires, liches and others) Quintus for the regular undeads, Sextus for the demonic animals and Septimus for the brainless demonspawns. The Palace of Agony A repellent fortress of incomprehensible architecture located at the heart of the Pit. The Palace of Agony serves as the base of Operation of the Demon Princes (from which they can observe the world of Titan through a misty pool) and as a link between all the Demonic Planes, which also provides an access to the other Planes. There, the Demon Princes and their highest-ranked servants gather for unspeakably awful feasts, the demonic animals are breed, and the essence of the defeated demons returns to regenerate. The Plane of Steel The Plane where the Snake Demoness Sith reigns from her dreadful palace made of snake scales. It is there where the demons' weapon are forged, bewitched and made unique for their wielders. The Plane of Rust The plane where reigns the Snake Demon Myurr, mostly populated by demons of withering and decay. The Plane of Ichor The Plane where reigns the Snake Demon Ishtra, named after the mystical substance that flows through (or constitutes) every supernatural being and which quantity determinates their amount of power. The Plane of Blood The Plane where reigns the Night Demon Relem, made of a revolting combination of blood and vital fluids, which can be given a solid shape to create buildings such as Relem's horrid palace. The Plane of Platinum The Place where reigns the Night Demon Vradna, which lacks the distinct features of the other Demonic Planes, namely foulness, destruction and decay, and yet is favoured by many elemental demons. The Plane of Obsidian A particularly unstable plane plagued by earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters, where reigns the Night Demon Kalin. The Plane of Bile The abhorrent Plane where reigns the Night Demon Shakor, mostly populated by plague-bringing demons. About the Demon Princes In the beginning of creation, the Demon Princes were part of a much larger demonic legion. Some sources speak of about 27 Snake Demons and 81 Night Demons, but all others were banished to the Void. There were also other demons of equal rank such as the Kurakil. During the First Battle, they all served as the Demon Gods' generals alongside the other champions such as the Night Dragon and the Black Gargoyle. Now the Demon Princes rule the Pit and attempt to invade the other Planes to shape them their way. Their primary target being the Physical Planes, wanting to create a portal between the planes from which the demons could flood in. The Demon Princes are pure manifestations of Evil and Darkness that can assume litterally any form they want. They are bound to the Pit but they can communicate with their earthling servants and manifest themselves in any other Plane. They cannot be killed and little to no mortal's weapon or magic can harm them. Should they be defeated, they would return to the Pit to regenerate, planning for revenge. Being of Demi-Gods status, they are worshipped by the evil races and corrupt people all over Titan. They encourage these worships, which strenghten their influence over the world. Most of the series' individual villains are more or less directly influenced by them: Zanbar Bone's parents led a cult dedicated to Myurr, leading the Snake Demon to claim the infant's soul and grant him immense Dark Powers, thus creating one of the greatest blights to ever plague Allansia. Worshipping the Demon Princes turned Belgaroth into the most fearsome Chaos Lord ever seen on the Old World since Voivod himself. Most of the Evil Overlords serve their purpose, even when they have goals of conquest of their own. Sometimes, said Evil Overlords are involved with lesser demons who enforce the Princes. It was an Ice Demon who made the innocent Shareella the dreaded Snow Witch; Oldoran Zagor and Zharradan Marr (and according to some sources Balthus Dire as well) are rumoured to be half-demons; and some of Reiner Heydrich's evil ancestors are represented in pictures with demons. Also, The Archmage of Mampang transforms into a Netherworld Demon during the final confrontation of The Crown of Kings, implying either a pact or a possession. Finally, the Shadow Demon Agglax, the primary antagonist of the gamebook Armies of Death, is a servant of the Demon Princes seeking to conquer the world on their behalf. The Snake Demons The three highest ranking Demon Princes. Their name stems less from the reptilian features of their appearance of choice than from Sith's fondness for snakes. Although they work towards the same goals, they are in constant competition and always seek to gain dominion over the others. Sith The only female Demon Prince, should gender ever apply to such beings, she was referred to as the Goddess of Evil Sithera in the pantheon of the ancient, Egyptian-like Djaratan civilization. She most often appears as an immense, four-armed woman with the head of a cobra, wearing jewelry made of skulls. She must not be confused with Vermistra, the neutral Snake Goddess, although one of Vermistra's children, the Immortal Python Sussussurr, has become Sith's pet. Sith is described as the cruellest Demon Prince. She is the most influent of the three Snake Demons in the Pit, for she commands the Night Demons Relem and Vradna, but her influence on the Earthly Plane is not so expanded. She created the Caarth race and many other snake-humanoids by blending snake and humans together. One can also assume that she is linked to Venom-Demons and Snakes and Poison-related Dark Magic. Sith is most active in the continent of Allansia, especially in the dangerous Desert of Skulls, where dwell all her snake-like servants. Contrary to the other two Snake Demons, Sith does not appear in any gamebook, though in Curse of the Mummy, the Caarth and the evil Cult of the Cobra work together to awake the mummy of the evil Djaratan ruler Akharis on her behalf, to cover Titan in a plague-filled desert. Also, it is implied that she directs Relem’s actions in Tower of Destruction. Myurr The most active of the Demon Princes and arguably the most intelligent, Myurr is constantly plotting to gain power in the world of Titan. He most often appears as an immense, four-armed demon with the head of a snake and large leathery wings. He also loves to appear as a gigantic toad or as an innocent-looking teenager. Myurr is known and feared for his devious schemes and the diabolical traps he can set. He prefers involving himself in the Earthly Plane than in the Pit, being the only Demon Prince to have a palace in both worlds. He mostly acts by infiltrating some government under a human aspect and manipulating the ruler to spread dischord and chaos all over. (When he does not set himself on the throne.) He also frequently uses his human aspect to tempt or manipulate people; and builds awful artifacts that wither the land itself. He also seems able to amplify the malevolence in people's hearts by looking them in the eye. Myurr is most active in the continent of the Old World. He is worshipped by the Dark Elves, which in some way makes him the indirect ruler of the Dark Elven city of Tìranduil Kelthas. In turn, the Dark Elves serve as the primary threat of the gamebook Siege of Sardath in which they threaten the eponymous city of Sardath; and the Warlock Malbordus, the villain of the gamebook Temple of Terror, was raised within the walls of Tìranduil Kelthas itself by a Priestess of Myurr. Ishtra Ishtra most often appears as a gigantic, bipedal crocodile with the head of a goat, entirely covered in green fire. He also appears as a huge, intense energy ball. He apparently wants to cover Titan in Darkness instead of swarming it with demons. Ishtra stole the Lizard Men race from the Lizard God Suthis Sha during the First Battle, turning them forever into his Evil servants. As such, he can be regarded as the indirect ruler of the Lizard Man Empire, which is in turn the primary threat of the gamebook Battleblade Warrior, besieging an entire kingdom. Ishtra uses green fire as his primary weapon and influences the Dream Realm, in which he commands the entity known as Morpheus, source of all nightmares. Ishtra is most active in the continent of Khul, having the most infamous local Dark Wizards as his servants. It was he who resurrected the wizard Shanzikuul, the villain of the gamebook Master of Chaos who served under him during the Chaos Wars; and who orchestrated the return of the archmage Xakhaz, the villain of the book Beneath Nightmare Castle. The witch Morganna, villainess of the gamebook Masks of Mayhem was also stated to be his servant. Furthermore, it may have been him who turned the warlock Grimslade into a demon after his defeat at the hand of the hero of Scorpion Swamp. The Night Demons The second tier of the Demon Princes, who each serve individually under one of the Snake Demons. They are depicted as immense, muscular humanoids of reddish body colour, with two black, dragonic heads and large leathery wings. (The aspect under which Relem, the only Night Demon featured in a gamebook, appears in Tower of Destruction.) They serve as the tacticians and generals of the demonic legions and spend much time watching over Titan to plan their actions. Relem The primary antagonist of Tower of Destruction and one of Sith's lieutenants. He seems to be most active in Allansia like his mistress, and seems to have influence over demons of ice and cold, though the story taking place in the icy northern regions, he may very well have merely used the closest demons at hand. Vradna The other lieutenant of Sith, he has a neverending rivalry with Relem, each searching to outrank the other in the service of their terrible mistress. Since the Black Gargoyle's death by the hand of the Dragon God Kilanirax during the First Battle, he became the master of the gargoyles. Kalin The only Night Demon with no known master, though it is implied that he serves under Myurr. There is little to nothing else known about him. Shakor The lieutenant of Ishtra. Like Kalin, he is not mentioned often and largely unknown. The Kurakil Although not a Demon Prince per se, the fearsome Kurakil, also known as Miphreas the Soul Destroyer and the Infernal Beast,was stated to be of the same rank and influence, some sources even refering to him as an equal to the Snake Demons. he and the Demon Princes were instructed by Death himself to keep Time hostage during the First Battle, alongside two other demons called Rivel and Arkragog. He was trapped inside the bewitched Casket of Shadows two hundred years before the events of the gamebook Spellbreaker, in which he is freed near the end of the story and must be defeated. Gamebooks featuring a Demon Prince Dead of Night The gamebook of which Myurr the primary antagonist, Dead of Night provides the playable character a family and a background. Said character vowed to hunt Evil after a demon killed his brother and became a powerful Holy Knight, known in the entire country of Gallantaria in the Old World as the Demon-Stalker. The Demon-Stalker often twarthed Myurr's schemes and even once exposed Myurr himself, as the Demon Prince was impersonating a king's advisor, triggering Myurr's undying thirst for revenge. The story begins when the player discovers that Myurr has abducted his or her parents and sets out to rescue them. The player can choose three Special Skills between Heal, Banish Undead, Meditation, Sense Demon, Speak Demon, Holy Circle and Dark Veil. (Using Darkness to turn invisible at the cost of getting tainted by Evil.) There is also a score of Evil, which measures the player's bad deeds and must be kept as low as possible. Dead of Night is an horror-themed gamebook, full of unnerving encounters with demonic beings and an atmosphere of permanent threat. The player has to be careful about the choices he/she makes and the warnings he/she gets from characters. As the story progresses, the player discovers that Myurr's demonic forces are plaguing Gallantaria and has to protect many peasants from the demonic forces, such as when an entire town is invaded by gargoyle-like Moon Demons, when a farm is assaulted by skeletons, or when the player himself/herself is attacked by a very powerful Great Demon with 11 in skill (level of power - the regular maximum being 12) and 18 in stamina. (Life-points.) The player also has to track down Myurr's right-hand man, the necromancer Magrand, who hides in a mill guarded by undeads and abducts people on a daily basis for his experiments. Upon reaching the necromancer's lair, he/she witnesses him communicating with Myurr, and can even listen to what the Demon Prince says should he/she master the Speak Demon skill. *In spite of his great magical power, Magrand is physically frail and has only 6 in skill and 6 in stamina. He might be able to harm the player with a spell before fighting but he poses little to no threat. The player might also visit his/her hometown and discover that Myurr sent two Blight Demons shape-shifted as his/her parents, to fake their death and cover up their abduction. The demons plague the entire village from the grave in which they were buried and must be destroyed. (Their actions cause the unknowing villagers to resent the player for triggering the demons' wrath.) The player must also destroy a Baleful Eye: a demonic eye atop a tower whose stare can damn people's souls, quite reminiscent of Sauron of Mordor. The player must reach the tower without getting caught in the eye's stare and climb it, while decieving the numerous orcs guards. Burning the Baleful Eye with oil is the best way but it can also be slain with a sword. (It has 7 in skill and 10 in stamina.) The player must also enter a Land-Blight (a demonic, organic building which withers and rots the land) to free the captive human that power it up from a demonic mouth-monster and destroy the Dark Stone that serves as its core with a very dangerous spell. Finally the player runs into a dark ritual in witch a Moon Demon Mage tries to resurrect Magrand as an undead Abomination. *If the player cannot prevent Magrand's return he/she has to fight him. Magrand-the-Abomination first has 6 in skill and 13 in stamina but after two attack rounds, his power increases to 10 and his stamina returns to 13 making him a powerful enemy, all the more dangerous in that he can kill the player outright if he strikes him/her with enough attack strenght! After all this, the player shall meet a member of an order of black mages guardians of neutrality, that Myurr manipulated into siding with him by making them believe that Good got so much influence that it threatens the balance... When it is in fact Evil that rules almost supreme, courtesy of the cunning Demon Prince. If the player manages to reveal the truth, the mage will grant him/her the powerful Demon-Slayer sword, the only blade able to harm a Demon Prince, and teleport him/her to Myurr's castle. The castle is filled with complicated traps and riddles, such as a whole room where gravity and space are warped. Thus, reaching the throne room where the Demon Prince is holding the player's parents captive is quite tricky. Confrontation with Myurr The gloating Demon Prince reveals that the abduction and all the blights were made to lure him/her right where he wanted him/her to. Indeed he needs his/her soul, his/her parents' lifeforce and the black mages' magic for a ritual to open a gate between the Physical Plane and the Pit, in order to take over both Planes. Myurr then proceeds to claim the players' soul and engages the final battle. Using the Dark Veil skill leads to a game over, since using an evil-based spell against a Demon Prince would only fully corrupt the player and make him/her Myurr's slave. Myurr is higly powerful and dangerous. He has 14 in skill and 25 in stamina and he can strike twice in a row with his four clawed arms, as if the player was fighting two equally powerful enemies. The major innovation being that the player can choose between three tactics when winning an attack round. *'Regular Battle': The player needs the Demon-Slayer sword to win this fight. Striking Myurr with any other sword does not even tickle him, and the power-up it grants is the only way to match the Demon Prince's might. *'Holy Water': Should the player win a skill test, Myurr would lose the result of a dice-roll in stamina. Yet, if this tactic is more of a way to make the battle easier than to actually win. *'Search for the Jewel': The safest way to defeat Myurr is to destroy the magic jewell that enables him to manifest on the Physical Plane, hidden among the relics guarded by hi's black mages's servants. Destroying the wrong item only allows Myurr to strike harder or to kick the player against a wall, which costs 2 to 5 stamina points. The player must target the pyramid of bones and win a test of Evil to resist Myurr's corrupting gaze. If the player loses he/she becomes Myurr's slave and the game is lost; otherwise the pyramid and the jewell inside it gets destroyed, defeating the Demon Prince. However, without the Demon-Slayer sword or a holy ring, the player must test his/her stamina to survive the blast caused by the jewell's destruction. Phantoms of Fear The gamebook of which Ishtra is the primary antagonist. The player is a young Elf shaman known as the Eldenurin. (The defender-shaman.) As Ishtra is gathering every evil creature in the continent of Khul under his command to take over the world, the Eldenurin is tasked by the Fertility Goddess Galana to rise against the Demon Prince. Being a shaman, the player has a unique Power score, which allows him or her to cast spells and to venture into the Dream Realm. The player has access to spells of Invisibility, Illusion, Levitation, Weakening, Detection and Fire but must use theses abilities with extreme parcimony, as he/she needs to raise the highest possible total of Power to stand a chance against Ishtra. As the story progresses, the player discovers that both the Physical Plane and the Dream Realm are blighted by Ishtra's demonic influence and had begun to wither, as the Demon Prince is using the Dream Realm as an asset in his goals of conquest. The player will often have to travel to the Dream Realm, where the monsters enocuntered are fought in a way that involves dice rolls and random, and can easily turn to the player's disadvantage. The player must sow dischord in Ishtra's legions, who if it were not for the Demon Prince's authority would spend most of their time infighting. There is also several dangerous monsters born from Ishtra's experiments that must be destroyed. The player must also search everywhere for magical relics needed to defeat Ishtra and to gather information about how to use them. As the player ventures near Ishtra's blighted hideout, he/she can no longer cast spells due to the Demon Prince's influence. When venturing the innermost sanctum of the hideout, the player will enter a nightmare in which he/she will have to face Ishtra's lieutenant, Morpheus the Lord of Nightmares: a disgusting amalgamation of monsters' bodies. *Morpheus first sends three dream monsters with high Power scores to fight the player. Contrary to the other monsters fought in the Dream Realm, Morpheus can kill the player for real and thus, the fight is lead just like a normal one, except both opponent use their Power score instead of their stamina. Morpheus has 8 in skill and 20 in power, which does not make him a big threat but the player must by no mean finish him off, otherwise he/she would also kill the dream he/she is in and end up dead. Confrontation with Ishtra The player must battle Ishtra immediately after defeating Morpheus and has the choice of facing him in the Dream Realm or in the Physical Plane, but should his/her corporeal body wear a green pendant, the artifact will enable Ishtra to devour his/her soul and turn him/her into his undead servant without resistance. *'Battle in the Dream Realm': Ishtra is fought the same way as Morpheus, with the power score replacing the stamina and has 10 in skill and 21 in power. While powerful, Ishtra has a surprizingly low skill total for a demon of his rank, but he compensates with his vast Power score, which the player must surpass to battle the Demon Prince. Should he/she have less than 22 points of Power, he/she would be forced to retreal to the Physical Plane. *'Battle in the Physical Plane': All weapons are useless against Ishtra who can only be defeated with six relics filled with the power of nature: a deer's antler and a crystal ball representing wind, an amber and a branch representing fire, and an icicle and a bowl representing water. Should the player lack one relic, or sufficient power to activate them, Ishtra will incinerate him/her with his green fire. The same fate awaits him.her should he/she place them in the wrong combination or lack sufficient Power score. But if every condition is met, the relics will generate a powerful forcefield and destroy the Demon Prince's earthly avatar. 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